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Paris-based Japanese architect Tsuyoshi Tane has designed the Todoroki House for a client who wanted to live in the Tokyo’s city center surrounded by nature. “The Todoroki Ravine is a windy location. Running through a dense urban forest, the air provided near the ground is humid while dry winds constantly blow up towards the sky,” Atelier Tsuyoshi Tane Architects (ATTA) founder Tsuyoshi Tane explained. “The design of the house has been defined by focusing on these two contrasting environmental conditions.”

ATTA made a study of traditional building design in both humid and arid environments to find design inspiration for the project. In Tokyo, it combined these elements into a single house that could accommodate the lush subtropical greenery below and the breezy skies over Tokyo above.

The first floor provides a large space covered on the outside by the jungle, featuring walls made out of the excavated local soil. The atmosphere is serene. The entrance located on the mezzanine is like a balcony over the first floor and leading to the second floor.

The second floor is the master bedroom fitting on an eight-volume space looking towards eight different directions with a low ceiling and large windows surrounded by the forest. The third floor is comprised of a six-volume space, towards six directions. The connection with the landscape lives through the window.

ATTA also designed the interiors around the client’s collection of vintage furniture, which he requested be perfectly integrated into the space.

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